Amy Crawford

EDCI 519 Spring 2018

Instructional Materials 2

The following chart shows a discussion which indicates how well, or how poorly, two

materials selected for use with first grade English Language Learners meet nine different criteria

related to comprehensibility with consideration to visual image and text. The criteria utilized for

evaluating the materials help educators rate the effectiveness of the visual media and text

included on the pages. The information presented in our class video about Gunther Kress (2003)

and Linda Lohr (2008) helps us understand that the arrangement of objects on the page, the types

of representative images used and how writing is structured either helps, or hinders, the English

Language Learner as he reads and interacts with text or screen materials.

The material I have selected as a good example of how to effectively combine text and

visual support is from a first grade math series. The particular lesson is about comparing

numbers to see which is greater or less than the other. The poor example is an anchor chart made

by a teacher in my building for use in helping students learn about telling time.

Good Example Poor Example

i. The print carries the message in this
example. The image on the page has
two purposes: 1) to indicate that Gabe
and Rose are children and 2)to show
that both children have nearly the same
number of rocks. Even though the
image clarifies some things, it doesn’t
carry enough meaning to be considered
privileged over the writing on the page.
It could almost be considered decorative
rather than useful for conveying
meaning. The picture on the page is
The visual representations of clocks and
hands on a clock are present and labeled with
the terminology a student would need to use
when talking about the clocks or using them
to set times. The size of the hand-drawn
images causes the reader to visually attend to
the image first, then to explore the writing
that is around it. The text on the page
MOSTLY coordinates with the images, and
help the student focus on the curriculum at
hand. The reader, as Kress (2003) says,
establishes the reading path as she goes,
 much like the ones used on the 1957 interacting with writing and images as she
type page in our class video. sees fit.
ii The reading path is clearly indicated by The reading path on the page is established by
use of boxes to separate the problem, preference to visual image, then to text.
and colorful headings to help the student There isn’t a clear linear path through it, nor
progress through the page from top to does there seem to be clear “chunking” of
bottom. information to assist the learner in utilizing
the information presented to the fullest of its
capacity. The path seems very convoluted.
iii The chunks of information are arranged The information appears to be divided in half
so that the reader does different things horizontally. There appear to be two topics
while progressing through them. In the set apart by the green labels ‘analog clock’
first chunk, the reader simply reads the and ‘digital clocks’. In reality, there are four
story in box. The accompanying picture separate topics discussed on the page. The
gives information that assists the reader spacing on the page makes it difficult to
in comprehending the story. The determine which information goes with which
information in each part is separated topic, and even confuses the reader as to how
according to what the reader is supposed certain information goes with each topic. For
to do with it. example, the placement of the capitalized
terms ‘AM’ and ‘PM’ appear to be labels for
the types of digital clocks, when, in fact, the
creator of the chart aimed for those terms to
be defined by the words ‘before noon’ and
‘afternoon’ which are too far apart from their
labels to be adequately comprehended.
iv. The image is close to the problem it The visual field and the placement of the
helps to explain. It’s placement there images on it is very confusing. The white
makes it useful in clarifying information space meant to define which information goes
the reader might not understand. Had it together is not well-placed.
simply been placed at the bottom of the
page, rather than purposefully beside the
story problem, it might not have given
the reader information as to what the
children in the problem collect.
v. The three chunks of text and numbers The information on the page is presented
are arranged vertically. Within the side-by-side, as if in two horizontal columns.
middle box, though, the reader must first Its arrangement leads the reader to read top to
read the text at the left side from left to bottom on the left side, and then top to bottom
right. Then, before moving down on the right side.
vertically, she sees the charts and
numbers that help explain how to do
what the text on the left meant.
vi. The use of the dark blue and white The use of color (green) to label the types of
symbols that signify the tasks to clocks is a clear signal that there are two
complete aids the learner in moving different types discussed, but the placement
through the page one part at a time. The of the two green words leads the reader to
 image of the clocks in ‘model it’ signals
to use manipulatives or the chart to help
the learner think about how to solve the
problem. The familiar speech bubble in
‘talk about it’ helps signal that students
should talk to others about their
thinking.
vii The creator of this page used line and
arrow to help show similar and different
concepts in the curriculum. The use of
the dotted line that connects the digits in
the tens place in each of the numbers
shows that those numbers are different
than those which are indicated by
arrows. Additionally, the author used
line weight in bold-facing the digits in
the ones place so the reader is reminded
that something about them is different
from the numbers in the tens places.
viii The dotted lines that are placed
horizontally on the page help direct the
reader’s attention to complete
everything in one area before
proceeding to the lower section. The
box around the story problem at the top
separates the story from the work
required to solve and talk about the
math skills used.
ix. The page seemed a bit print-heavy, and
could have used more visual
representation to support the English
Language Learners. Visual
representations of familiar tools such as
base ten blocks (rods for tens, units for
ones) could have been drawn above the
column graphs in the middle section to
help solidify what tens and ones are.
a) The example I selected as a good example of use of visual and text aids students in not
only understanding math content and concepts (greater than, less than, comparing
believe that all of the written and visual
information under them pertains only to the
type of clock under the label. While that is
true of the left side of the page, the
information about AM and PM pertains to
both types of clocks.
The use of line on the page is decorative (the
blue dashed line around the entire page) and
to set apart the heading ‘telling time’. The
lines don’t aid the reader in separating
information, or in keeping the information
together.
If a box had been added around the
information that all relates to AM and PM, it
would have added clarity for the reader.
Another possible way this could have been
made clear would have been to use the equal
sign (=) between AM and before noon, and
between PM and after noon since it had been
used with the hands of the clock to signify
‘means’ or ‘represents.’
There is a good combination of representative
image and text on the page. The hand-drawn
images aren’t sufficient for a reader to
comprehend without some VERBAL
explanation. The analog clock is probably
self-explanatory, but the two images depicting
the digital clocks are very unclear. Unless a
reader has experience with a cell-phone used
as a clock, or a very specific type of alarm
clock, she might not comprehend what the
images represent. Further information in the
form of small labels (‘cell phone clock’ and
‘alarm clock’) might be helpful.
 numbers), the visual aspects of line, arrow and dark print help students learn the

language that one uses when talking about the concepts of same, greater than, and less

than. By choosing to walk the student through the hands-on process in the “Model it”

section, the author is employing a mode other than writing/verbal to help the students

understand. As Hill and Flynn suggest, meaning cannot be conveyed through words

alone. The writer knew that giving the image of the two buckets of rocks which they

were comparing would help the reader know we wanted to know how the buckets

compare. Were they equal? Did one have more than the other? The image helped

created the “movie in the mind” Hill and Flynn spoke of on page 38 in their article

Nonlinguistic Representations. The attention drawn to the concept of tens and ones by

using the small charts helped students see that the each of the digits in the numbers in

the story problem means something different. Coggins, et al would have preferred that

there had been more visual representation on the page to help the students attain the

concept of tens and ones, but only if the teacher had previously established the visual

tool’s meaning (p. 70). The “Talk About It” section encourages students to try out the

math content language they are learning, and to practice explaining what they know

about math.

b) The use of a “thinking sheet” (Gibbons, 2009) would aid students in working through

the problem orally with a partner, or with the teacher. Simple steps on the thinking

sheet could be replicated each time a students solved a similar math problem. It would

definitely benefit them in the “Talk about It” part of the work when they had to go

through the same process to compare Fred’s rocks with Gabe’s rocks to see if Fred truly

had more. Bringing the language to the forefront in this manner helps the teacher see
 the thinking the students have going on in their heads, and allows the students to

deepen their thinking by talking through the situation in a more systematic fashion. (p.

71).

c) While there were several good attributes on the good example material I chose, one

thing realized after analyzing it more closely, was that it lacked the true visual

component would have explained the concept better. The visual on the page did

accompany the question ‘Who collects fewer rocks?’, and it did make the reader look

closely at the buckets to see if it one could distinguish which child had fewer. This

would have been a good opportunity to have teacher created photographs depicting

children with varying numbers of rocks in their collections so students would have

more than one opportunity to explore the concept of ‘fewer than’. (Britsch, 2012) The

concept is sometimes difficult, and for the students to learn to assign the symbols < and

> to number relationships is often hard. The photographs a teacher could take and

include in such a math lesson would give more opportunities for the ELs to practice the

language structures that accompany the concept being taught. Coggins, et al, would

have suggested exploring the visual representation of the numbers in different ways in

small groups. The activity at the bottom of the page does suggest working with at least

one other person to talk about the math problem, but taking the concept even further,

Coggins might suggest that the students would deepen their knowledge and strengthen

their use of academic language by hearing the ideas of others, and by speaking and

refining their explanations and thinking when the teacher embeds this practice in the

completion of the math page (p. 102).